Paladin Energy

Uranerz Australia started operations in Perth, Western Australia, in 1970 with John Borshoff, Paladin's managing director/CEO, serving as Chief executive from 1986 to 1991. Uranerz, the Australian arm of German-based uranium mining house Uranerzbergbau, explored throughout Australia, New Zealand, and Africa, focusing primarily on uranium. When Uranerz decided to close its Australian operations, John Borshoff acquired its extensive proprietary databases, which subsequently formed the nucleus for the public float of Paladin in 1994.

In February 2008, Paladin, in conjunction with joint venture partner Cameco, were selected from a highly competitive field to explore the Angela and Pamela deposits located approximately 25 km south of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Following successful completion of two drilling programmes, an updated Mineral Resource estimate was completed by the joint venture partners in July 2011.

In February 2009, Paladin completed the takeover of Fusion Resources, adding the Duke Batman and Honey Pot deposits to the existing Mount Isa project area. The capacity of the LHM operation has been successfully expanded to a production rate of 5.2Mlb per annum.[2]

According to information released by WikiLeaks in 2010, BHP Billiton attempted to lobby the Australian government in order to block the Aluminium Corporation of China (Chinalco) investment in Rio Tinto.[3]

In 2012, Paladin joined forces with Rio Tinto to block the sales of BHP Billiton's Australian uranium deposit to Canadian mining company, Cameco.[4]

Founder of Paladin, John Borshoff stepped down as CEO in 2015 as part of a board decision. Alexander Molyneux, took over as interim CEO of the company.[5] In 2016, The Australian reported that Paladin may be in talks with Russian owned ARMZ Uranium Holding as well as China National Nuclear Corporation.[6] CNNC is a 25% owner in Paladin's Namibian mine Langer Heinrich.

Paladin posted a loss of $22,9 million after tax in the six months to 31 December 2015.[7]

In 2016, Paladin announced the sale of non-core Australian exploration assets to Uranium Africa. The value of the sale was A$2.5 million[8] and included the Oobagoma project in Western Australia and Pamela/Angela project in the Northern Territory.[9]

In 2017, Paladin filed for insolvency, due to its high debt and consistently low uranium prices. The stock was also delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange.[10]

In June 2018, former Newcrest executive Scott Sullivan was appointed to take over the CEO responsibilities from Alexander Molyneux.[11]

The company's uranium projects include Langer Heinrich in Namibia and Manyingee in Western Australia. Each of these projects had feasibility studies carried out by previous owners during the 1980s, and Paladin secured them at low cost during the depressed uranium market.

Paladin has augmented its resource base in Australia through the acquisition of Valhalla Uranium Pty Ltd, whose primary assets are the 50% joint venture interests in the Valhalla and Skal deposits near Mount Isa in Queensland and 41.71% ownership of the Bigrlyi deposit in the Northern Territory.

Paladin also has an 82.08% controlling interest in Summit Resources Limited, Valhalla's joint venture partner at Mount Isa and the holder of other promising exploration titles in the region.

In February 2011, Paladin completed the acquisition of its first Canadian project. Paladin acquired the uranium assets of Canadian company Aurora Energy Resources Inc. (Aurora) which added a significant tenement package in the highly prospective Central Mineral Belt (CMB) in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Aurora had already established a Mineral Resource base of 40.2Mt at 0.09% U3O8 (83.8Mlb) of Measured and Indicated category material, with an additional 29.0Mt at 0.08% U3O8 (53.0Mlb) of Inferred category resources.

In 2015, the Canadian Federal government granted an exemption to the current regulations on foreign ownership of active producing mines in Canada. Paladin was granted the right to have a majority ownership stake in the Michelin uranium mine, located in Newfoundland. Paladin was able to secure the exemption by demonstrating that no suitable Canadian owned company was attracted to the venture.[18]

A uranium mining ban dating back to 1989 had been in place, hindering the group's Australian activities for more than a decade. This ban was overturned in October 2012, paving the way for firms like Paladin to take advantage of the vast resources available; exploration had not been prohibited and thus the reserves have been targeted and are ready for mining.[19]

However, it was not all of Australia that lifted the ban. In 2015, the Government of Queensland reinstated the ban on all uranium mining activity. South Australia is still undertaking research into the effect of uranium mining in the state. Mining is still banned in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.[20][21]

Paladin owns the Valhalla deposit with both measured and indicated uranium resources of 24,425tU.[22]

• Cliff Lawrenson – Chairman – Non-executive (Corporate)
• Ian Purdy – CEO (Commercial / Mining / Finance)[23]
• Peter Main – Director – Non-executive (Finance)
• Peter Watson – Director – Non-executive (Technical)
• Joanne Palmer – Director – Non-executive (Finance)
• Melissa Holzberger - Director - Non-executive (Corporate
• Jeremy Ryan - Company Secretary
• Anna Sudlow – Chief Financial Officer